Olympics: Bode Miller wins bronze medal in Alpine skiing

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — There’s a point in the movie "Downhill Racer" when an American coach confronts a self-centered, troublesome, but extremely talented skier, his country’s best hope for Olympic gold.

American Bode Miller became the oldest Alpine skier to win a medal, a tie for bronze in a thrilling men’s super-G race.

"All you ever had was skis," the coach tells him. "And that’s not enough."

Soon Bode Miller, so like Robert Redford’s headstrong character in the 1969 film, will find out if the skis were enough.

Thirty-six now, he’s not yet over the hill. But he’s been at its summit for a while.

On Sunday, Miller earned his U.S.-record sixth Olympic medal, a bronze in the Super-G. In a race won by Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, American Andrew Weibrecht took silver, temporarily easing criticism of the U.S. ski team. Canada’s Jan Hudec tied Miller to claim a bronze, as well.

And with that sixth career Olympic medal, Miller took sole possession of second place on the all-time men’s Alpine medal list, two behind Norway’s now-retired great, Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

As always seems to be the case with the sport’s bad boy, Miller was disappointed in his third-place run. He might have done better, he said, if he’d countered his instincts and been less aggressive.

"I won’t ski that way," Miller said. "If you ski like you’re invincible, a lot of times you stay invincible."

Invincible maybe, but not immortal.

Olympic and World Cup races satisfy his passion to be the fastest man on the hill. That passion clearly hasn’t been quenched.

After becoming the oldest skier to win an Alpine medal Sunday, he said he’ll compete in Thursday’s giant slalom and perhaps even next Sunday’s slalom. For sentimental reasons, he’s also planning on hanging around for the 2015 World Championships at Vail, Colo.

"Beyond that," he said, "it’s really hard to tell."

No one, more than likely not even Miller himself, expects him to ski in a sixth Olympics at age 40.

That may be why he uncharacteristically was emotional at the end of Sunday’s super-G at Rosa Khutor Alpine Center, embracing his wife at the finish line and burying his head in her shoulder.

"I’ve been through a lot of major championships and a lot of Olympics," he said, "and this one was a little different. It was very raw and emotional for me."

What made it so was the series of personal and professional difficulties he experienced in the year before these 2014 Winter Olympics — the death of a younger brother, a nasty custody fight, the long and painful battle to recover from serious knee surgery.

As troubling as the other incidents were, it was the knee injury, the surgery and all those months away from the slopes that forced Miller to ponder life without skis.

"It was one of those injuries that certainly could have been the end of my career," he said. "If I hadn’t recovered, I’d have walked away happy and just moved on."